Cardinal
by Hieda
Summary: A different choice, a new turn, and a fresh start await Kirito as he struggles to break out of his shell and learns to interact with those around him. A certain whiskered friend might finally be the catalyst for these changes but with all good things come the bad. Something wicked this way comes and it'll be up to our anti-social hero and the Cunning Rat to put a stop it to it.
1. Chapter 1

**Cardinal**

_Chapter 1:The End and __Beginning_

It was the last day of the beta and thus a sad day for the many people who were currently logged into the server. This was especially true for Kirito whom, even as the servers were preparing to be shut down, was still grinding his way through the tenth floor. It would not be an exaggeration to say that during the past two months Sword Art Online had completely enveloped his life. The first thing he did upon waking up was log in, skipping breakfast to play as much as possible before the day began. While he was at school he would daydream about how to grind the most efficiently and what skills he would get next for his build. Once home he would immediately dive back in, only stopping for dinner and a quick shower before returning to the world that had practically replaced his own. A glance at his time played showed that he had already surpassed over 500 hours on the game in a relatively short amount of time.

And now the world that he had so thoroughly devoted himself too for the past two months was coming to an end. He had known it was coming and prepared himself accordingly, but still the thought of having to wait for the official release of the game was like a knot in his stomach. Once today ended it would be back to his daily boring routine, knowing he would no longer having SAO waiting for him at home in the coming days was enough to sink him into a mild depression. He had little interest in the real world for the most part preferring to sequester himself away from the rest of the world in the online one. School was simply a mandatory part of life that he never truly engaged himself with, friends were something few and far between for him, and even home for him had started to become draining after learning he had been adopted two years ago.

Truly the only place he had felt comfortable these days, alive even, was the virtual world. In here he was someone people could admire and respect, having drawn plenty of attention through the beta as one of the top players in the game. He had worked hard for that title and it was one of the few accomplishments he had that made him actually feel proud of himself. That confidence still failed to quite serve him in the social aspects of the game however as he'd ended up dedicating himself to being a solo player. He had tried in the beginning to party up a few times, but it had almost always failed to last more than a day for one reason or another he could never quite pin down.

His ruminating was interrupted as the last arachnid in the area was felled by his blade, the large spider dropping it's loot into his inventory which he quickly sorted looking for the last drop needed to complete his current quest. It had been one that had spanned most of the tenth floor dragging him from one dimly lit cavern to the next in search of all manner of ingredients. This spider's venom sac was the last ingredient he needed in order to complete the portion that was necessary to heal the quest giver's daughter whom was afflicted with some sort of rare ailment that could be contracted on the current floor.

Preparing to make his way back, he took a teleport crystal out of his bag. Normally this would be a seen as a waste of a precious rare resource but due to the nature of the beta a wipe was imminent, rendering the saving of such items useless. Reciting the activation phrase for the crystal his screen distorted as its effects kicking in, teleporting him to the main gate on the floor.

The world slowly faded back in after the warp, revealing the lantern lit town in all of it's splendor before him. It's mellow lighting along with the somber colors and soft jazz BGM creating a very relaxed atmosphere in the town at contrast with the dark tunnels it inhabited. He had taken a bit of liking to this floor after it had been opened, the architecture out of all the floors, while a bit dated, was the closest to what he was use to giving the whole floor a familiar feeling to him which the previous ones lacked.

He walked through the town drinking in the ambiance on his way to turn in the quest ingredients. The gentle breeze that flowed through the caverns slightly rustling his hair, while also bringing the scents of various foods present in the stalls around him. Various NPCs called out to him, offering goods and services that were standard fair for an MMO town. They weren't the only ones he heard however as the town was alive in a different sort as well.

Even in it's final day the tenth floor town was quite lively with players meandering about, some simply saying goodbyes to the friends that they had made with promises to meet back up on game launch, some taking in the sights one more time before the end of the night, and a very small portion of players like himself still continued to try and finish all they could before the beta was officially over. He continued walking through the town, the crowd slowly thinning until he was the only one left as he approached a small shack on the outskirts of the large village which housed his destination.

Entering the small enclosure he was faced with a sight that had become familiar to him since he started his quest. An old man sat at the edge of a comfy looking bed tending to a girl that looked perhaps a bit younger than himself. Her curly blonde locks lay matted against her pillow from sweat, her skin held a sickly translucent shade of white that only further reinforced her condition. She had been unconscious since he had started the quest, the strange illness that only seemed to worsen for her as he completed each part of the quest. He wasn't sure if the whole thing was timed or it was just for dramatic effect but thankfully it seemed like that wouldn't bean issue.

The quest had been simple to start off with, he'd stumbled upon the small shack in his initial exploration of the floor almost by accident while being chased by a rare mob. After he had ran inside for the safety he met the the old man who'd warned him about the dangers of said mob as well as explaining that is was preventing him from acquiring one of the components of medicine for his daughter.

After a lengthy stealth mission he managed to get the required item, only to met by yet another request. And so it began, each time after he had found an ingredient he was told that there was yet another part to the quest. Most people had given up the quest as it was incredibly time consuming to reach each new area for the quest items, especially with how little time they had left by reaching the current floor. There was also no confirmation that the reward was even worth it, which only further served to push away most gamers. His completionist nature as well as his desire to see what loot could be earned had driven him to try and complete the quest before the beta ended. Even then it had been a close thing as with only at most an hour left, he had acquired the final drop that it required.

"Ah you're finally here young man," the old man looked up with a sullen smile, his land never leaving his daughter's side "Did you bring the last ingredient I need?"

A pop up appeared on his screen which he used to drag over the spider sac before clicking the hand over prompt in his vision.

"Thank you, please watch over my daughter as I prepare the potion." The man opened a door which Kirito knew from prior experience contained a room with a large variety of alchemical tools.

Figuring he may as well take a seat in case it was actually required for the quest he maintained a silent vigil over the unconscious girl. As he waited a high pitched ding went off followed up by a flashing message icon on the top left of his screen. Pulling up the mail in question confirmed it's sender to be one of the only friends he felt he had genuinely made both in and out of game, though he would never tell her that in fear of the teasing he would undoubtedly receive for saying something so embarrassing.

Argo was funny like that, she could be all business one second. Doing her best to fleece you for as much money as she could. The next you'd be thoroughly teased about anything and everything she could get her hands on and boy that was a lot. Argo or "The Rat" as she had been nicknamed was the number one information broker in all of Aincrad, being able to deliver up any information anyone sought out as long as the price was right. She once had the gall to try and sell him her three sizes, the memory still causing him to blush even after he had developed somewhat of a resistance to her constant teasing. Though if he were to be honest that was probably why they had managed to become such great friends, she was always in control of their conversations, preventing him from having to awkwardly fumble for topics of conversation.

Shaking his head of the errant thoughts threatening to endlessly assault him, he scanned through the contents of the message.

'_Hey Kii-bou you manage to finish that quest yet? If'n so I don't suppose you'd be willin' to tell little ol' me all about it would you ~.^. I'll be hangin' around the normal spot till the end of the servers, if you don't stop by … well I can't be held responsible for whatever info gets out about you ... Nyahaha! See you soon 3.'_

Truly she was incorrigible, this wasn't the first time she had threatened to blackmail him into something and probably wouldn't be the last. Despite that however the things she usually asked him to do or find were generally pretty interesting, that and he did already promise to hand over the quest completion info once he was finished.

"Alright it's finished," Came the hollar of the old man before bursting through the door rushing to her side by Kirito. "Alright boy let's hope this works."

Kirito back stepped out of the way while the man gently lifted the girl's head, tilting the bottle into her mouth as the liquid from potion slowly drained until empty. The effect was almost instantaneous, the color of her pallid skin regained a healthy rosy shine. Her breaths started to deepen significantly, signaled by the more obvious rise and fall of her chest. Lastly her eyes slowly came open blinking the accumulated sleep out before they turned to regard her father, her sleepy expression quickly shifted through several emotions ending in tears.

"I'm so sorry," she cried, shakily lifting herself up into her father's arms. "I know I shouldn't have gone out that far to collect the things you needed but I thought you would be proud of me."

"It's okay Milty, shh ... you're fine now," he whispered gently cradling the young girl in his arms, brushing his hand through her hair gently in a calming motion.

Kirito stood awkwardly as he watched the two NPCs, not quite sure what to do in the face of the emotional family moment. Truly the quest designs in SAO were truly outstanding in the level of detail they put into them. In the end he decided that he would try and expedite things a bit if for no other reason then to escape the awkwardness of this quest's finale.

"So umm, about the reward." Kirito called out to the old man.

"Oh, sorry lad, of course of course." He untangled himself from his daughter with a hearty laugh. He walked over to where kirito stood, holding his hand out in the standard stock animation for handing over quest rewards.

A small window appeared in the middle of his screen with only a single word written upon it.

'Null'

Well if that wasn't just great, it looks the quest hadn't even been finished in it's implementation. His shoulders sagged as he swiped the window away. Feeling let down by the anti-climatic finale for his time in the beta he started to make his way out the door only to become rooted to the spot he had been standing in.

A slight turn of his head revealed the girl had latched onto his back dragging him into a hug that firmly pushed her chest into his back. He blushed immensely as he tried to extract himself from the hug only for her to embrace him all the tighter. What was with this girl's strength, wasn't she just barely recovering from being ill. The fact he couldn't move was ridiculous and must have been some sort of cruel joke by the developers for sure.

"Thank you for saving me." The girl still clinging to him said softly. He sighed patting her arms with his hand, giving up on his attempted escape.

"It's no big deal, really," he mumbled, turning to face away from her again as his blush increased slightly, this time in from his own embarrassment.

She relinquished him from the hug and ran around to his front, looking him in the face before bowing deeply too him. "My name is Cassandre Milty, I promise I won't forget what you've done for me Kirito."

The words cut rather deeply as they dredged up thoughts of having to resume his normal life after the beta ended.

He barely contained the sigh that threatened to escape his lips, Instead he slipped into the confident persona of the character he was trying to play. Looking her directly in the yes he tried to make his voice as smooth as possible. "I won't either Milty, I promise."

She smiled and waved to him as he departed from the shack, he continued glancing over his shoulder until the shack door shut behind him hiding her from view.

Now if only he could interact like that with real people.

* * *

"Ah There you, I was wondering how long you'd keep little ol' moi waiting." Shouted Argo, waving her hand energetically as he approached. Her golden brown hair peeking out underneath the hood that covered most of her person, swaying slightly with generated wind that flowed on the outskirts of the town. Her trademark whiskers contorting funnily, pushed up by the wide smile wore on her face. She was seated at one of the little cafes that made their home on the tenth floor. It was rather out of the way which made it a prime spot to talk, as it was less likely for anyone else to be around to listen in.

"I didn't mean too." He said sheepishly erring on the side of caution and apologizing. It was hard for him to tell sometimes whether she was teasing him or legitimately upset. Though maybe that had less to due with her and said more about him.

"It's fine, it's fine," she waved him off before her dazzling smile was replaced by her trademark 'business' face. "So did you complete the quest? Come on tell big sister Argo about it why don'tch ya."

He sighed wishing that he had at least tried getting some Col for the information he was giving her before having promised to help her uncover the secrets of the quest a few days ago. In his defense he had held out a whole minute before crumbling to her insistence and threats of possible retaliation. He went on to explain to her the various locations the quest took him too as well as the drops required, the monster and levels, and their weaknesses. She wrote everything he spoke in rapt attention until he had almost finished.

"And then when I finally completed the quest the reward was just a box with the word 'null' in it so I'm afraid that we're gonna have to come back around and do it all over again when the game starts if we wanna see what the reward is." He finished explaining the quest, carefully leaving out the mention of How Milty had hugged him afterwards. It was way too embarrassing a moment, and would invite merciless teasing from Argo were she to find out.

"Hmm," Argo tapped her chin as she seemed to mull over the information he had just given in her head before turning a few pages in her book, leafing through it's content. "That's pretty strange stuff Kii-Bou. The normal message that appears is when a quest reward hasn't been implemented is 'Item Missing'. This seems more likely to be something along the lines of an item that exists but maybe isn't compatible with game yet? Do me a favor and check your inventory for anything that seems out of place."

He nodded and flicked his hand across the air pulling up his menu. Scrolling through all the stuff he had acquired since the beta took a fair amount of time but he eventually came across something he was sure he had not previously been in possession of. An empty slot filled the space between two items, however on further inquiry he was able to press it bringing up the items details which rather confusingly only held it's acquisition date. His gamer instinct was tingling but other than that he was completely lost as to what to make of it.

"You're right it's definitely here but what difference does that make?" he questioned feeling rather defeated by the mystery.

"Trueee," Argo drawled out before shrugging. "Honestly I'd be lovin' to take a further look but alas with beta ending we don't have any more time. If I had to make a guess I think it has something to do with the Cardinal System."

"That hyper intelligent AI that supposed to monitor gameplay and players, I'd heard it can do some pretty incredible stuff but what does that have to with this?" he asked.

"So here's what I'm thinking, what if the Cardinal System created this quest and the reward it paired with it for some reason isn't compatible with the game's code. That would create a situation possibly like the one you seem to have found yourself in," Argo deducted, tapping her finger thoughtfully against her chin. "Though really it could be anything, just a theory."

Kirito considered the implications of Argo's theory and found himself considerably impressed by both her and the Cardinal System. If Cardinal really was capable of creating quests and generating items that not even the developers considered that was pretty incredible. Honestly it only made him even more excited to what the future of the game held with Cardinal at the helm.

_**THE GAME SERVERS WILL BE CLOSING IN FIVE MINUTES.**_

_**THANK YOU FOR PLAYING THE SWORD ART ONLINE BETA.**_

_**WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL ON THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH.**_

Fireworks went off on the roof of the caverns lighting up the whole town with their luminescent light. The fading embers falling slowly around them before shattering into pieces when they made contact with anything around them. The whole sight was rather breathtaking and he cheered the development team on in his heart for the last event of the beta.

"Pretty amazing dontcha' think." spoke Argo softly looking up as the fireworks continued to go off above them.

"Yeah." What else could he say, it was the truth they really were pretty amazing.

"More importantly than that Kirito," Argo seemed to hesitate before taking out a piece of paper and began writing on it before passing it over to him.

He stared at her in confusion as he took the proffered piece of paper, only to see a bunch of number written down. He looked back up about to question her as to what they meant only for her to continue.

"I know how much you'll miss me once the beta is over so here's my number, It'll make it easier to coordinate a get together for the official launch."

He nodded, made sense.

"Also if you feel too lonely with out moi' around to keep you company I guess you can shoot me a text sometime if'n it a make you feel better Nyahahaha." Argo laughed out as Kirito could only blush helplessly at the merciless ribbing that hit a bit too close to home. Though he wasn't sure if Argo was aware that what she said was probably the truth.

_**THE GAME SERVERS WILL BE CLOSING IN ONE MINUTE.**_

"Well I guess that's it Kii-Bou, I'll see you around. Gotta get ready for the day after all." Argo threw out before her avatar burst into a shower of polygons in the log-out animation.

Which left him sitting here all alone as the final seconds of the beta ticked down. He did his best to intently memorize all the numbers on the sheet of paper as it would not be possible to bring it up after the game closed.

_**GOODBYE.**_

He could have sworn he heard a voice in his head as the farewell fanfare ended and his world went dark.

* * *

His Nerve Gear rolled to the side coming to stop on the edge of his bed after being gently tossed by the boy. Dazed Kazuto could only stare up at the ceiling in quiet solitude. The beta had ended and it was time to get back to his normal life he supposed. He gave a deep sigh before moving to his desk to deal with the one good thing that happened to him today.

Making his way to his desk he grabbed his phone which was resting on top of it. Navigating the foreign menus he added the number Argo gave him into his phone and hesitated on what to do next. She had said to text her if he was feeling lonely but the beta had just ended, it would be rather embarrassing to text her immediately after. He could pretend it was just to make sure he had gotten the number right but even that excuse felt hollow as he couldn't help but giving another deep sigh.

With the immediate concern out of his way he headed downstairs towards his kitchen to grab some breakfast, only to be met with his sister(cousin) whom was also leaving her room.

"Uhh, hey onii-chan." Suguha spoke her voice small and hesitant.

"H-Hey…" Kirito spoke awkwardly moving his gaze towards the floor finding himself unable to look her in the face.

He barely heard a small mumble escape her before she spoke again this time with a bit more conviction. "I'm heading out for practice I'll see you later okay."

"Y-Yeah, sure." He stumbled over his words still not looking up as he watched her feet disappear from view.

With yet another sigh so early in the morning he went through his daily routine of getting ready for school. The sheer monotony of the tasks burdened him even greater than normal knowing their would be no retreat and that he would have to endure it for awhile.

A quick bite of breakfast and it was off to school, the walk there being marked with the gentle hum of wind and the indistinct chatter of others similarly making their way to whatever destination awaited them.

The day itself, once he arrived at his classroom, seemed to drag along. Seconds slowly bled into minutes as he listened to his teacher drone on about the current formula they were going over. It wouldn't have even been so bad if the formula was one he hadn't already understood but with no need to actually be attentive on the lesson the time seemed only to pass by even more painfully slow. The only that brought him solace, or possibly anxiousness depending on how he thought about it, was the phone number currently sitting in his phone. The indecision agonized him as the minutes ticked by before the bell for lunch finally provided him a brief respite from the both monotony and his troubles.

However lunch itself was still a mostly boring affair. It wasn't that he didn't have anyone to sit with for lunch but he couldn't exactly call those people friends either. He was quite aware that he mostly a hanger on of the group, neither contributing anything meaningful, or doing anything to draw any ire from the group. Honestly it was almost more lonely to eat in the group than it was to just be by himself sometimes.

With these thoughts in mind he grabbed his lunch and headed for the school roof, knowing where the janitorial staff kept a spare hidden close by when he had accidentally stumbled upon it in his previous year.

Opening the door to the roof he leaned against the wall and released what felt like his millionth sigh of the day.

He took his lunch out and nibbled on the sandwich within while staring at the screen of his phone, still internally debating the pros and cons of texting his online friend.

Honestly it shouldn't even be a difficult decision to make after she had basically told him to do it. Even still there was a small nagging voice in his head that told him he would just end up being a bother to her which held him back.

Sighing for the umpteenth time he folded the phone back into his pocket and continued absently biting into his lunch as he stared into the empty sky. He pondered what he would do to fill the void in his time that had been left in the wake of SAO's downtime before official release.

The options left him depressed as he realized just how much time he had poured into the game. It seemed almost impossible to fill in the gaps of his schedule which only served to sink his mood down even more.

Finishing off the last of his lunch he began his way back down to the classroom, passing through the halls filled with lively atmosphere of the students enjoying their youth.

And so the day crept slowly onward for Kirito, until finally the bell tolled granting him release from the school but not from his troubles.

Collapsing on his bed once finally home was a relief as the softness cradled him providing a temporary break from what ailed him. His thoughts slowly drained from his head until he was completely empty, floating above it all as he freed himself from his earthly tether.

Only to be brought crashing down as he turned his head coming face to face with his phone screen which must have conveniently slipped from his pocket when he collapsed on his bed.

Working up all his courage he sent a single text that would greatly alter his future unbeknownst to himself.

It all started with one simple sentence.

"_Hey Argo it's me, Kirito."_

* * *

**_And that's a wrap on the first chapter for this. Let me know what you think._**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: A d=Different Path, A Different Fate_

As it turned out Kazuto was an idiot.

Looking back it was easy to see how he was overthinking his worries, creating problems from nothing as a measure of self-defense to protect himself. After all one couldn't be hurt as long as they never put in any effort in the first place. Building walls around the heart to protect it, which only conversely served to keep everyone out as well. A self fulfilling prophecy that created an endless loop of regrets and emptiness.

In spite of that Kazuto had managed to tear down a small part of that wall and bravely step forth. His hand extended towards one of the few friendships he had fostered over his years of being a loner. It was perhaps the initial anonymity that had helped him attempt to become friends with Argo, the first time she had approached him. She was so bright and dazzling compared to his somber demeanor that he couldn't help but feel drawn to her, looking perhaps to obtain what he felt he lacked in that wonderful attitude of hers. Over the course of the beta their near constant interactions had led to them becoming fast friends, though if you were to ask him he would still have no idea what she saw in him. Then things had escalated near the end of the beta when she had given him her number in the real world, which was generally a taboo in the online world.

And them something amazing had happened, despite all his worries, she had responded with great joy once he finally worked up the courage to text her. In fact she had been slightly miffed with him that it took as long as it did. That he would keep such a beautiful lady waiting, her words not his(not that he disagreed with them), was an irrefutable act of poor decorum and that it was now his job to make up for his transgressions(once again her words). These apologies came in the form of promises to text her everyday, something that he quickly came to greatly enjoy. Long gone were the worries that had plagued him, he was simply glad to have someone whom he enjoyed speaking too, even if she was a bit of a tease.

"_Hey Ki, I just got out of class and let me tell you today was a real ass kicker. I think your little ol' friend could do with some cheering up here._ _Let me know when you get home okay!"_

He flipped his phone closed, shoving it into his pocket as he continued biking home. A stupidly large smile on his face, which had seemed to be almost ever present these days, as he increased his pace on his way home from school. Even the chill in the winter air couldn't touch the warmth that he carried with him these days. He looked forward to whatever Argo had planned to cheer herself up, as her plans for entertainment(good or bad), usually ended humorously in one way or another.

Arriving at his house he quickly rushed to his room, booting up his pc while he changed, and settling himself in for a long night of debauchery with his friend.

"_Alright Argo I'm home."_

He quickly typed his message into their dedicated IM application, fingers dancing along his keyboard with practiced ease. He had a great fondness for computers and figured he would probably end up in some related field of study in his future. Something about them just seemed to click in his mind and he devoured even more complex information with an ease that would make seasoned programmers jealous. This skill had born the application they were using to communicate, an easy way for them to talk with each other whenever either of them wished too. There were quite a few bells and whistles that had yet to be tested but, in an unspoken agreement, had yet to be used. One such feature was the integrated VOIP, which would allow them to speak to each other the same as if by phone.

An accord which apparently was to be broken today.

As the silent beeping admitted from his headset alerted him to the incoming call, he could only sweat internally with both dread and anticipation. It was probably simultaneously both the most terrifying and amazing thing that had happened to him in a very long time. He attempted to calm himself, slowly adjusting his headset, buying time to fight the nerves that threatened to overtake him. He exhaled a long last breath before hitting the answer call button.

"_Hey Ki, is it working."_

Oh god she sounded almost exactly like she did in SAO, while this wasn't that surprising there was a reason it threw him for such a loop.

See in SAO proper your voice could be modulated with several in game features meant to protect players who did not want to use their real voice. His IM application however did not have any such feature, which meant only one thing. Argo was a genuine girl.

"_Ki, you there."_

He shook his head dismissing the elation at the newfound realization, after all such a thing should hardly matter. Whether it was a he or she Argo was still his best friend and hopefully nothing would change that.

"_Yeah s-sorry was just adjusting my mic, uhh what's up?"_

"_Well as you know my day was a royal bummer and I think it's time I finally call in your debt to me for making this poor maiden wait by the phone while she eagerly awaited your call."_

He almost made to argue with her about having already done what she asked to make it up to here, but realized such a thing was a fruitless endeavor when faced with the ever greedy rat.

"_Fine, fine. What do you want."_

It spoke volumes of her influence that, even though technically this was their first time speaking in real life, he managed to carry such a casual conversation in face of her teasing.

"_Well, I was thinking maybe we could, you know, uhh, meet up somewhere…if it's not too much trouble."_

The day seemed to be one full of firsts, as Argo dropped a bombshell that he definitely had not been expecting from her.

"_Hehh, if it's too much trouble don't worry about it.."_

"_No I'd lo-, I mean uhh_ _yeah that'd be okay I guess. W-where did you want to meet?"_

She quickly gave him an address for a cafe that wasn't too far from him. Though the speed with which she gave it gave him the feeling that this was probably planned from the start, which confused him slightly.

All well, far was it from his intentions to turn down a request from his best friend, terrible plots and schemes aside.

"_Okay, I'll be there in about thirty I guess?"_

"_Kay Ki, I'll be in a brown sweater just wave when ya see me."_

Before he could respond the line beeped signalling the end of their link, which was probably shut off from her side.

Then the gravity of what had just happened finally started to sink in. A real life meetup was something he had definitely not expected out of their friendship and put him to a loss on how to react. Just the idea of somehow screwing it up left a pit in his stomach, like a thousand little butterflies had decided they no longer wished to just fly, but escape violently from his stomach.

Deep calm breaths Kazuto, he had already promised to come so there was no backing out at this point for him. Clothes, he decided, he needed to probably dress up just a little bit for his … what even was this?

Deciding it best not to ponder that specific subject at the moment, he busied himself with getting ready. Putting on some of his more fashionable clothes, though still pretty casual wear, he left his place, grabbing his bike, and making his way towards the cafe.

The chilly November air assailed him as he pedaled his way thoughtfully, mind drifting through a myriad of possibilities of why Argo had called him out in person. It wasn't too much of a surprise that she knew this cafe had been fairly close to him. He had let drop the name of his school in one his conversations before but had thought nothing of the minor fumble. Argo had not mentioned anything about it either, though obviously in retrospect she had use the knowledge to arrange this meeting.

Though while this whole ordeal was rather terrifying, he couldn't help but a feel a certain level of excitement. He truly did relish all of their chats and the opportunity to further their friendship in person wasn't something he was opposed to at all.

It was with this final passing thought, that he had finally arrived at the cafe. The crisp cold breeze weaving a subtle symphony punctuated only by the light chatter of those brave enough to bare the elements outside. Among those figure was a girl in a light brown sweater, her auburn locks hanging loosely over hair as she blew into her cup. Her face crinkling slightly as she took a sip, whether it was too hot or just not to her taste he didn't know. One thing he did know for sure is that she was for sure the most charming thing that he had ever laid eyes on.

He realized at this point that he had been staring far too long and went to chain his bike on the rack next to the cafe, beating down all the last minute doubts in his head.

Finishing his task he came back to the girl resting her head on one hand, staring thoughtfully in the other direction, a melancholic look came over as she sighed turning her head back towards him.

Their eyes met and the sound and sight around him seemed to melt into the background. A white tinged world that held only the two of them locked in their stare lasted but a scant few seconds as the world quickly reasserted itself in between the two drawing back with it the sounds around them.

"Uhh, hey Argo." Kazuto waved sheepishly other hand on the back of his neck as he took a seat across from her.

For her part Argo, devoid of her usual teasing, just sat there silently observing the boy across from him. The silence stretched on as she continue to bore into him. He was just about to try and break the silence when she spoke first.

"So you are younger than me, huh." out of all the things she had to say the first words out of her mouth was a very strange observation. Her face unreadable as she continued to stare at him.

"I guess, wait how old are you?" Kazuto questioned back.

"Oh Ki, don't you know never to ask a woman her age," Argo's trademark grin returned to her face as she leaned over to the table bring her face to his side before whispering in his ears. "but I might be willing to sell it to you if the price is right."

Kazuto could only blush as her whispers tickled his ear, turning his whole thought process into mush as he struggled to come up with any sort of response.

Hey wait a minute, how did she know his age in the first place. Granted he know he didn't look particularly old but then again neither did she, so how was it possible for her to tell.

"Hey Argo how did you know old I was?" he asked taking a slightly firm edge to his speech that he usually donned when Argo had done something particularly egregious. Temporarily forgetting his anxiousness as a sense of familiarity surrounded the situation.

This line of questioning seemed to draw a rather embarrassed response from her as she coughed and started mumbling something to the side, head facing away from him making it even harder to hear her.

"Argo, I asked how you knew how old I was." he asked again, emphasizing each individual syllable.

"Well," she drawled out still refusing to look at him. "I may have remembered what school you said you go to, and I knew what name you used in the game. And then I may have triedlookingupyournameandfoundsomeonesimiliarwhokindalookedlikeyoufromthegameandthenfoundyouandthendidsomeresearchtofigureoutitwasyou."

"I .." how did he respond to that, he wondered.

"Annnyyways," Argo attempted to swiftly change the subject, "It's nice to finally meet you Kazuto, names Shiori, last name will cost ya. Nyehehe"

Her fingers rubbing together in the universal symbol for money, caused the poor boy to deflate. Any intention of pursuing her previous statement lost in the whimsies of Argo which, despite his attempts, always seemed to drag him along with them.

"So, what's up?" he asked falling back into the easy atmosphere that the two had fostered over the course of the beta.

"Ehh, I just wanted to spend the day with my favorite person in the world, Ki-chan." her lips popped the last two lords, casual delivering a line that caused Kazuto's whole face to turn a scarlet red.

His sputtering only seemed to great amuse Argo, or Shiori now, as she laughed mirthfully. The sound was undeniably pleasant to the young boys ears, as he shrugged off the slight jest and instead enjoyed the clear ringing of her voice.

After the fit of laughter at his expense was over the two continued to talk for awhile. Conversing on little pieces of their lives, such as school, their future aspirations and a lot of gaming.

He learned a few things that were certainly very interesting to him. Despite her earlier offer, she freely gave up her age of seventeen, a little over two years older than him as it turned out. More than that he learned she was just as smart and loquacious as she was in game, possessing a great investigate spirit and had future aspirations to become a detective. Something her parents seemed to be quite against, which had come to ahead with a heated argument at school during their career consultation day. She had quickly escaped, feeling down, she had decided to turn to him, arranging a meeting to take her mind off it.

He told her everything about himself in return in order to feed her curiosities. They discussed his proficiency in programming, which Argo found very exciting as she also loved the technical side of the world. He told her about his dreams in possibly working with AI and robotics and were he might want to go for universities. Eventually he landed on the sore subject of his family as well, telling Shiori about his learned adoption and how it had served make him feel isolated in home from mother and sister.

They commiserated together over their poor family situations and, while neither of them had any real advice for the other, the ability to simply talk about their issues served to lift the weight from their collective shoulders.

Eventually their conversation turned to the lighter side of things as they discussed their plans for the official launch of SAO.

"So I was thinking," Shiori said, taking another sip of her coffee. "We should start a guild come launch time, I know you don't like big groups but we can keep it just the two of us at least for a little while. Gotta make sure everyone knows this rat has the famous swordsman watching her back and vice-a-versa. What do you say."

It was actually quite the good proposition as it would serve to make sure no one would easily considering messing with one or the other. Argo was already know as the best information dealer in Aincrad, and he himself had worked up quite the reputation as one of if not the best in combat during the beta.

"Okay, I think it's not a bad idea. What's the name gonna be?" He asked considering what most gamers felt was the important part of forming any group, which was an awesome name and he was no different.

"Hmm, that's a tough one that. I guess we gotta ask ourselves what our goal is for the guild" Shiori brought her hand to her chin thoughtfully considering the question.

"Well if it's just gonna be the two us, and knowing you of course, I'm sure get drawn in by all sorts of trouble, once again caused by you, and eventually end up having to solve it." This was only met by a firm nod by Shiori much to his dismay.

"So how about the Watch? Sounds kind of cool and it kinda describes what we do." He suggested.

"Hmm, not bad but I don't want us to be known as people who just sit around and wait for stuff happen. We gotta let the world know that me, and to a lesser extent you, are the greatest in all of Aincrad. Everyone should bow down to me, and once again to a lesser extent you, in all of my glory." Shiori raised arms taking in the cheers of her imaginary crowd as Kazuto could do not but smile good-naturedly at his companion.

"Alright then," he paused thinking about the various games he played and books he had read, trying to draw any good group names grand enough for his friends requirements.

He recalled a series he read a long time ago that he had quite enjoyed that also contained a group that suited their purposes. "how about the Architects, we could be crafting our own grandmaster plan in the shadows of Aincrad or something. Sounds cool anyways."

"I, love it." Shiori replied rubbing her palms together no doubt already planning something nefarious. "So it's settled Ki-chan, we're The Architects, soon to be rulers of all of Aincrad, Nyehehe."

Shiroi extended her hand towards Kazuto, both shaking hands and looking forward to their future escapades.

* * *

And so the days came and went each counting down the last week till the official launch of SAO. While they hadn't met in person again since his trip to the cafe they spoke for longer hours during the night, discussing the happenings of their day and nailing down the details and plans for the game. It came as no surprise that Shiori planned to continue her role as in information broker upon release. The difference however would come in Kazuto's role as bodyguard and frontline when investigating some of the more dangerous leads. He was by no means upset with the arrangement as it was a good excuse to keep in constant company with one another.

They also planned a few things they knew they wanted to check out once the game came back up again. Amongst the list was the martial arts skill, which had him laughing when he had to come to learn the origin story of her whiskers, gathering info on all the major guilds that had been established in the beta, and looking back into the mysterious quest on the tenth floor to try and discover the meaning behind the mysterious quest reward.

Then the day of release finally arrived, he already had everything prepared for his dive back into the worlds of Aincrad. Having eaten his dinner and warned his family he wasn't to be bothered. He sent a final message to Shiori that he we logging on and dived back into SAO proper.

Various lights spread outwards as the link process started up, encasing his vision in a mass of colors before fading back into focus. He quickly selected his saved avatar from the beta before the fanfare ascended and we teleported to the town of beginnings.

His heart soared as he took in the familiar landscapes, the town of beginnings was certainly not the most impressive of floors by far but it made up for in other areas. It had a certain stereotypical fantasy charm to it, Wooden building mixed with stone monuments, npcs and players alike strolled through the city in search of their own stories, creating an air of adventure that sent the blood pumping through him. The urge to rush out and explore the world filled him as his excitement reached its peak.

He scanned the crowd trying his best to pick out his whiskered companion only to feel a tap on his shoulder from behind.

There stood Argo in much the same avatar as he'd seen during the beta, one difference however was the absence of her trademark whiskers, which must have meant those couldn't be carried over from the beta.

"Ki, you ready to go. We already have started later than I would have liked so we need to get a move on if we want to finish all the tasks I have set for us today." Her tone was all business as usual when she was working under her persona of the rat. She had impressed upon him earlier that he was the only one who received the brunt of her teasings, which he was secretly quite happy about.

"And if we finish early, then maybe we can have some fun," She waggled her eyebrows at him as he fought to keep the blush from growing on his face. Even after all their time together he still couldn't even begin to handle the storm that was Argo face to face.

"Alright, alright let's go. So where too first?" he asked, manipulating his menu with practiced ease inviting Argo to his party.

"I'd like to secure the inn at Tolbana you informed me of before anyone else, it'll be a decent base of operations since it will most likely take us awhile to get past the first floor." Argo replied scratching down various notes in a book she had probably purchased before he had arrived. "Then we'll head to Honruka village so you can get the best sword on the floor which should help us speed through the early levels and outpace most of the new people to the game. After that I figured we'd explore a bit see if any notable changes have happened since the beta."

"Alright, well what are we waiting for." Kirito responded equipping the starter weapon in his inventory, preparing for their trek through the monster infested hills right outside of the town.

A few moments later they were racing through the landscape, barely slowing down as they easily dispatched the low leveled monster that the floor had to offer. Their arrival at their destination, a small farmhouse right outside the walls of the city, was met by a lone NPC who sitting on the porch, an exclamation mark above his head.

One quick quest later which had them take care of some monster that were wandering too close to the farm, they were offered the 2nd floor of his house at a much cheaper rate then you could find at any of the nearby inns.

There were a few reasons they had gone through so much trouble just for the room, one it had a repeatable quest that offered some pretty powerful consumables for this early in the game, the other being it's position was a good centerpoint to reach other areas of interest on the first floor.

As the two prepared to leave for their next destination a flash of light enveloped each of them, temporarily disorienting them. Once the light had died down he found himself back in the town of beginnings with Argo at his side, as well as what looked to be the rest of the population on the server as well.

"Ya think it's a launch event Ki? This didn't happen in the beta." Argo said thoughtfully frowning as she scanned the area.

The question would soon be answered for the both of them as red hexagon shaped objects expanded into a dome around them. There flashing of "warning" and "System Announcement" littered the shapes with an ominous air.

These omens would soon prove true as what appeared to be blood started dripping from the dome, slowly gathering on a center point before shifting become humanoid in shape.

It stood impossibly tall in front of the players, an empty blood red cloaked that was filled with something but appeared as nothing. It's hands slowly lifted, bringing the crowd in front of it to a complete silence.

And then it spoke.

"**attention players, welcome to my world." **

The loud booming voice echoed across the town leaving all its inhabitants awestruck.

"**My name is Kayaba Akihiko, as of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."**

Many a players face at this point would show recognition, as Kayaba was the man whom had created the groundwork for the VRMMO.

"**Im sure some of you have already noticed, that the logout button is missing from the main menu."**

A gasp escaped a many a mouth, as players frantically sought to confirm the news.

"**But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat, it is a feature of the world of Sword art online."**

Many were left confused by the announcement. A Swordsman and Rat shared a worry glance at one another.

"**you cannot log out of Sword Art Online yourselves and no one on the outside**

**can shut down or remove the NervGear."**

Minds started turning at this point, a slow and horrible dawning revelation started creeping forward in the mind of a many of player.

"**should this be attempted the transmitter inside the NervGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."**

And once it had finally pervaded their minds, panic started to break loose.

"**unfortunately, several player's friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NervGear. As a result 213 players are gone forever, both from Aincrad and the real world."**

With this the panic was reduced to whimper, the thought of being next paralyzing players in fear.

Then a screen appeared behind the cloak, a clip of the news playing silently in the background of the creatures wake.

"**as you can see news organizations from across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume the danger of a NerveGear being removed is minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game."**

While their were a few sighs of relief they quickly passed as the gravity of the last part of his statement soaked in.

"**But i want you to remember this clearly, there is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your hp drops to zero your avatar will be forever lost**

**and simultaneously the NervGear will destroy your brain."**

The panic that had died out quickly reignited in the face what seemed to be certain demise. Many players openly breaking down weeping, Unable to cope with the new truths laid before them.

Still the Swordsman and Rat watched on.

"**there is only one means of escape, to complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor if Aincrad, floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game."**

Cries of unfairness echoed from the crowd, grief, sadness, anger, and many more emotions filled the screeching of the broken crowd.

"**Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves"**

The present as it turned out had been an item that transformed your avatar into an appearance more closely resembling ones true self. A fact that only more heavily cemented that this was their new reality. Which had perhaps been its purpose, the two would later hypothesize.

"**Right now you're probably wondering why why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of SAO and the NervGear do all this."**

The crowd was once again silent, hoping for a miracle of miracles. That maybe this would all be announced to as a rather poor marketing stunt, or mismanaged starting event.

"**my goal has already been achieved. I created sword art online for one reason … and now it is complete."**

Alas there would be no salvation this day.

"**This ends the tutorial for the official sword art online launch. Good luck players"**

With this final proclamation the robed figure vanished, setting the virtual landscape back to it's former appearance.

"Ki," Argo turned to face him, face alight with an anger that he never seen on his close friends face.

"Yes Argo," he replied, his voice still managing to come out steadily, despite the whirlwind of his own emotions.

Her voice next sent literal chills up his spine.

"_We're going to stop him, no matter what."_

And so the two players set out to change the fates of many.

* * *

**And there's chapter 2 it was finished a couple of days ago but I'd been a bit too busy too upload it. I'll be alternating between this story and another Touhou project fanfic so expect a chapter every other week or so. Feel free to drop a pm or review with thoughts, suggestions or criticisms, as all are happily accepted.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: Dungeons and Drabbles_

"Alright everyone, if you'll follow along with me I'll be going through some of the basics when it comes to combat."

Kirito positioned himself so that all his actions would be clearly visible to the group currently watching him. Counting down the respawn timer in his head, he prepared to unleash one of the basic sword arts he had access too, Horizontal.

As the boar spawned in, he leaned his body inward taking the stance required for the skill. Guiding it through the motions he had long since memorised, in sync with the assist system, he swung the blade in an arc level with his chest. The sword skill quickly cut through the boar, slicing it cleanly in half as it exploded into a flash of polygons. His audience gave a light clap at the little show. Turning around from his kill to face the audience once more, he continued his planned out lesson.

"The most important thing in combat to remember is, that while sword skills are powerful, they can leave you in a state of vulnerability after you execute them. The key to minimizing the lag between actions is too memorize the way the assist system moves your body, and follow along with it. By doing this you can greatly cut down the cool down time between skills and chain additional skills."

As this wasn't the first lesson he had today, he had managed to time his speech with the respawn timer of the boar. Quickly turning, releasing a horizontal as he did so, struck the boar. Before the system caught up, he slightly adjusted the positioning of his sword from where the horizontal ended, bringing it back up at angle to land a second strike on the boar. The second hit, another common sword skill know as Slant.

The crowd gave an even more enthusiastic applause than before as he flourished his blade, returning it to the scabbard that was on his back.

"As you can see, with some practice and a bit of theorycrafting, you can find certain skills that you can begin where the last one ended. Doing this will greatly decrease the risks of getting caught by enemy attacks while using your own. Now let's have some of you give it a try. Form a line and I'll guide each of you through some practice on the boar. Don't worry too much about getting hurt, it doesn't do too much damage plus I'll step in to help you if you need it."

And so he began coaching each player individually through some basic sword skills. Off in the distance at each spawn, other similar groups were doing the same thing he was. The idea had been Argo's, and while at first he had been nervous of having to speak to so many people, his passion for the game had quickly eased the errant feeling. After his third group, he had developed a nice rhythm for his class, nervousness had been replaced by satisfaction as he saw each of his 'students' start to get the hang of the game. The fact that these newly developed skills may save their lives served to further encouraged him to teach them the best he could.

The time since yesterday had passed in a blur as he and Argo had retreated to their inn, beginning to plan their next actions now that the truth of the game had been revealed. At first he had wanted to simply rush through the content they knew, quickly gaining levels and items. Argo however had been quick to reminded him that there were plenty of players that had never even touched a game like this, and that even the beginning areas could yield a huge amount of casualties if they weren't careful. He had felt quite bad about how selfish he had sounded in retrospect, till Argo quickly stepped in to tell him it was a natural response to want to protect oneself in the face of danger and that he shouldn't put himself down to hard. After all, Argo had said, she was the only one who was allowed to make him feel bad. Not even he was an exception to this rule apparently, according to the cunning Rat.

Teasings aside, he and Argo had spent the whole night planning on a way to help the players as much as they could. They had settled on hosting small classes for all the new players to help them get the hang of the game. Argo had even gone as far to call in most of the favors she had accrued during the beta, calling in said beta players to help teach the classes they had planned. From there they split the work between them, Argo would write a guidebook explaining all the information they had learned in the beta, while he would devise the curriculum for the combat focused part of the class. They had stayed up all night to finish their preparations, neither getting a wink of sleep. Though they weren't quite sure whether sleep was actually necessary considering the circumstances, their virtual bodies not requiring the same daily needs as their real ones.

Come morning,with a bit of advertising, they had players in hordes coming to sign up for the classes. So much so that they had to set up a full days schedule on the fly to accommodate everyone who was interested. Argo, taking up the role of director, made sure that all the classes were running smoothly and rotating out the players who had signed up to teach for breaks in between classes.

He hoped his break would come soon as the mental fatigue from the all-nighter plus the constant talking had taken a toll on him. The last person left in his class walked forward to practice what they had been taught. She immediately caught his attention for the simple fact that she was a girl. Most of the players, after the mirrors had transformed them into characters liken to themselves, were male. There was probably only about one female to every hundred males at best. She had rather long chestnut hair and a face that ten out of ten males would likely consider beautiful, unfortunately said beauty was marred by the empty look on her face. He was far from an expert at reading people, but even to him she looked pretty out of sorts. At her side hung a single rapier and she simply nodded to him as she stepped forward.

"A-alright," he stuttered a bit as he tried wave away his musings, "So if you're going one to be using a rapier the skill you want to practice first is going to be linear. Position your body like this"

He did a quick demonstration of the movements for the girl, letting the girl observe his movements up close to get a better understanding. With another small nod she took the same stance as he had show her and unleashed what was perhaps the most surprising thing he saw all day.

To say her linear had been fast would be an understatement, a single blink was all the time that had passed before she arrived at the end destination of her skill. The boar an afterthought in her wake as it expired, the shattering of polygons framing her form as she stood back up straight, the same blank look still adorned her face. Not even the smallest of smiles tugged at her lips as she passed by him, thanking him briefly, before walking off.

It was of course at this moment that Argo had seen fit to show up.

"Wow Ki, that look she had could freeze volcanoes," Argo strolled over to him, giving him a critical eye as she did so. "You didn't try ta' hit on her did ya? That poor girl, no wonder she was in such a hurry to leave."

"Of course I wasn't," he denied, though the crack in his voice told her she had succeeded in teasing him.

"Hmm, not like I'd blame ya really, she was quite the beauty. Even I may have taken a pass at her. Nyehehe~" She grinned salaciously at him, only serving to further the blush in his cheeks.

"I surrender." All he could do to save himself was raise the white flag and hope that she took pity on him. There was some battles that even he was not willing to fight after all.

"Booring, anyways come on we got some things to discuss." Argo led him off to the side of the field, manipulating her inventory as they walked to pull out a small basket and sheet. Spreading the sheet along the grass, she plopped down gracelessly, patting the sheet next to her for him to sit down.

He raised an eyebrow at the unusual series of events but complied anyways, taking a seat on the cloth, putting him a little too close to the Rat in the process.

"Here," She said handing him some bread and butter, which they had obtained from a quest at the far they were currently lodging at. "It's not much but it's still surprisingly tasty. So how did your classes go?"

"It was a bit rough at first, honestly though I really enjoyed it. It wasn't as nearly as nerve racking as I thought it would be." he bit into his bread, the virtual data that it consisted of translating into a close facsimile of flavor. "It was definitely worth it, thanks Argo, for everything."

Too his surprise Argo didn't have a response to his gratitude, she just stared at him as she finished eating her piece of bread. She then began leaning onto her side, one hand placed in front of another, leaning over the forgotten basket and putting her directly in his face. They were so close in fact that he could feel Argo's breath gently across his face, immediately causing him to blush up a storm

"Say Ki, I've been wondering this for awhile. Are you doing this on purpose I wonder." her face was eerily calm despite the short distance between the two. They held that position for awhile, kirito at a loss for words, while Argo seemed to finally reach a conclusion. She lowered herself back to her former posture, taking another slice of bread from the basket.

"Guess not," she quickly changed subjects, "We're going to the labyrinth today, I wanna spend some time scouting the floors and getting map data. You'll be coming with me. We can leave the rest of the classes for the day to our friends here"

In his poor jumbled mind all he could do was nod along, voice refusing to cooperate with him as it seemed to have taken a rather sudden holiday. Truly he was at a loss at how to deal with her when she got serious like that. He wasn't even quite sure what he had done to evoke such a response. All he could do was rather meekly plod after her, their destination the tall tower standing in the middle of the floor.

* * *

The labyrinth of the first floor consisted of twenty floors, which actually made it the floor that took the longest to clear during the beta. Many players considered it to be an extended tutorial of sorts, each floor had a few different tricks and mobs to it. Most likely this was done to introduce as many basics concepts as they could into the intro of the game. This left the labyrinth as a weird hodgepodge of elements that somehow managed to blend together without being a complete mess from a design standpoint.

"Switch," Kirito called out, having deflected the kobolds mace upwards leaving it in a stunned animation.

Argo came in low, ducking under his now outstretched arm and unleashing a slash at the monsters midsection. Using the momentum gained by the skill, she flew past the creature allowing him to re-engage . With the kobold still off balance he let loose a final sword skill, dispatching of the creature.

While the monsters in the labyrinth weren't very difficult it was also accurate to say that he and Argo were a little under leveled. Having skipped most of the quests on the floor, they relied solely on their knowledge of the mobs attack patterns and their teamwork. That being said the fights were still relatively easy for them as they continued to kill threat after threat, slowly making headway into the giant labyrinth.

Their main purpose here had been to see if it still retained the general layout it had during the beta. So far their luck had held up pretty well, as everything seemed to be almost exactly the same. This had led to them exploring through the labyrinth at a pace most would consider frantic, already having made their way up to the 7th floor on their first session.

"I think we should take a break, don't know bouch' you but this poor lass has had about enough." Argo said, currently lying on the floor, in one of the safe rooms that offered respite to weary travelers within it's halls. The constant combat combined with staying up the night before driving both to near mental exhaustion.

"Sounds good to me," Kirito replied, leaning against one of the nearby walls.

Said wall however, apparently being rather fed up with it's role in life decided at that moment that it would rather be a pile of rubble than bother to hold him up a second longer. This left Kirito in quite a predicament as he tumbled backwards, the rude wall's passing delivering upon him a mighty blow to the head as he landed gracelessly on the floor.

"I know I'm tired, but did ya' really just break a wall by leaning on it," Argo rubbed her eyes from the ground, trying to cure herself of any sleep deprived hallucinations. "Nope, okay it's still gone. Ki, normally I'm all for discovering secrets but couldn't we just take a break for just a little bit."

"It's not like I meant to accidentally stumble upon a secret entrance way. Who even programs something like this, this is just dumb." He mumbled blinking away the dizziness of his sudden tumble.

Leaning his head back he saw a dimly lit room just a bit further ahead, it's darkness punctuated by a few bright candles littering it's interior.

Sighing, he dragged himself up of the floor before deciding to investigate the new found secret. Taking one of the candles, which conveniently had a candelabrum for easy holding, he swept it over the previously shadowed walls of the room. On them appeared to be old styled cave paintings reminiscent of old caveman stories. Except unlike the human world, these depicted kobolds fighting what appeared to be players and other various creatures. What really caught his attention however was a depiction of a kobold that vaguely resembled the boss from the beta, though his weapon looked slightly different to him.

'"Find nything' interesting in there Ki?" he heard Argo call from the other room.

"Err, maybe? It looks like a picture of the boss, not sure what it means though. You should come take a look." he called back to her.

"Don't want to, bring the picture to me." she whined back, refusing to move from the simulated cold and uncomfortable floor currently holding her. It was certainly doing a much better job than the wall at least she thought..

"Argo I can't bring the whole wall to you, it's not possible." he sighed at his partners antics, lamenting stumbling into this stupid room at all.

"Kazuto," she said pleadingly, using his real name. Something she only did when she knew she was being outrageous.

Suddenly a small light bulb when off in his head, this was the perfect opportunity to finally get her back for all the teasing she tormented him with.

Making his way back into the room, he saw the Rat with an adorable pout on her face. The fact that she still managed to be so cute even when being a complete idiot only served to further his desire to act on his impulsive revenge.

Moving closely to her and leaning down, which cause Argo to raise an eyebrow at him, he picked her up in the classic princess carry he had seen in his sisters manga. This seemed to overwhelm the poor girl as her entire body went rigid in his arms, her face unable to decide what expression it wanted to make and was just left an awkward gaping.

Perfect, revenge complete, "Well you wanted to see the wall right, don't worry I'll bring you to it."

He looked down at her and tried to give his best charming smile, which led to Argo burying her face, presumably to hide her blush. He had finally done it after all these months, he had succeeded in turning the tables on the cunning girl.

Happily smiling to himself and walking to the cave, he was completely unaware of the machinations he had set in motion.

"Ki," Argo unburied her face, presenting a flushed and bewitching expression. Her cheeks held a rosy blush, her eyes slightly wet, and her lips quivering cutely. "My heart's beating so fast, I don't know what to do."

It was all the poor boy could do not to drop her, his face exploding into a vivid red that practically overwhelmed the system's capacity. Her erratic breathing tickled his neck, it took all his might to only stare indirectly at her face which was far too charming for him to handle.

"Nyehehe," her sudden laughter shook him out of the rosy thoughts, startled by the sudden change in her demeanor. "It's far too early for you to try tease me Ki-chan, I'll give you some points for your effort though."

Of course, how could he have deluded himself into thinking he could pull anything over on her. Sighing he unceremoniously dropped her on the floor, causing the girl to 'eep' in startlement .

"That was uncalled for!" Argo, now once again reunited with her friend the floor, called out.

"Just come look at the wall." Kirito deadpanned, doing his best to purge all memories of the failure from his mind. Though her slight flushed and dazzling expression just wouldn't quite fade from his memories.

"Fine, fine. You're really a sore lose ya' know that." she giggled, using her hand to rub the back of her head where she fell.

Leading his companion into the cave, he showed her the picture that caught his interest prior. Explaining how he thought the weapon it was holding, even in the hard to tell and slightly crude drawing, looked a lot different from the one he remembered in the beta.

"I think it's possibly a nodachi," he offered, using his almost encyclopedic knowledge of the game to make a guess at what the weapon could be. "Not sure why though."

"Well I doubt the developers, or should I just say the Kayaba at this point, would put something like a secret without any meaning in the game. My best guess would be it's simply that boss had a change of weapons since we last fought it, I'll be sure to make a not and explain before we have to fight it for everyone." Argo pulled out her notebook making a few small notes before examining the other walls, looking for more clues.

"You know I was thinking," Argo's statement about the main developer of SAO brought back some information he had almost forgotten about. "What if this wasn't his intentions at all?"

"Whatcha mean?" she replied, looking intently at some scribbled words that hung under a picture of an angel. Though while not sure what it meant she wrote it down anyway.

"What I mean is, isn't one of the reasons this game was so ambitious was because the Cardinal System. It was supposed to have the power to run the game on it's own, making events and changes it saw fit according to the player populous. What I'm getting at is do you think that maybe Cardinal is trying to help us out after realizing we've been trapped here? For that wall to just conveniently break after I leaned against it seems pretty far fetched to be honest."

"Hmm," Argo mulled over the interesting theory. "Honestly I don't know as much about AI as you do to even fathom whether or not that's something it's capable of. However if you think it could be then we'll definitely have to investigate further. We need all the help we can get after all. Anyways I'm done here let's call it quits for today and head back to the farm. I'm in desperate need of a comfy bed."

Kirito agreed, though something in the back of his mind was telling him that he had overlooked something. Though what it could possibly be he wasn't quite sure.

The walk back through the labyrinth had fortunately been an easy one, using the collected map data they were able to avoid most of the fresh spawns and make it to the base of the tower with relative ease. Another short walk had them back at the inn, both ready to pass out and let peaceful nothingness overtake them.

Unfortunately for him, he was now keenly aware of what his brain had been trying to warn him of. Faced with this issue he had retreated into the corner of the room, truly life seemed to take great joy in making him as uncomfortable as possible it seemed.

"Ki, stop being dumb and get in the bed already. You're making me miserable just looking at you." Argo sighed, frowning at the huddled up boy in the corner.

"I'm f-fine, no need to w-worry about me." he replied, convincing absolutely no one in the room including himself.

"Ughh, I'm goin to count ta' five you hear me, if you're not in this bed," she paused for dramatic effect, a large grin forming on her face. "Well I can't be held responsible for my actions afterwards."

His face paled as he considered his options. The lesser of two evils was to probably just admit defeat and share the bed with Argo for the night. That thought alone was enough to make him freeze up as his mind conjured up an image of them sleeping together, with her form draped over him as the lay together. He buried his face in his legs to prevent her from seeing the massive blush spreading across his face. Which had happened far too often today for his liking. Truely being with the Rat seemed bad for his mental health.

"One." You know maybe it would fine, surely Argo wouldn't do anything too crazy to him just for sleeping on the floor.

"Two." Then again she had proven time and time again that she could easily outdo his expectations.

"Two and a half." Maybe he could run for it, there were after all plenty of inns back in the town of beginnings.

"Three." No she would find him, it would be better to take to one of the smaller towns. Lay low for awhile and maybe she would just forget about him.

"Four." Oh who was he kidding, she would track him down to the ends of the earth if it meant she got to tease him. Truly no where in Aincrad was safe.

"Four and three quarters, really Ki you don't want me to reach five."

He timidly approached the bed, lying down and perched himself on the edge as far away from Argo as possible.

"I won't bite you know." she said smugly, poking his back much to his discomfort. "Don't worry this onee-san promises not to do anything funny to you while you sleep."

Wasn't it normally the other way around he wondered, as he made the mistake of turning around meeting her devilish grin.

"Fine," he pushed himself further onto the bed, attempting to make himself more comfortable. Still the thought of being only a foot away from the girl made it hard to find any peace. Blowing out the candles, they lay there a little while in silence, the simulated sounds of the wilderness outside barely audible through the farm's wooden walls. Time seemed to pass slowly as despite his wearied state he couldn't manage to fall into slumber. The thought that this was their new lives really started to sink in. While it wasn't that he didn't enjoy certain aspects of it, the thought of dying, or even worse Argo dying, at any moment was a bitter pill to swallow. While things were easy now there was no way to tell what hardships would await them in the future.

"Hey Ki?" Argo asked, her voice lacking it's previous mirth. He turned, barely able to see her outline in the darkness of the room. "Do you think we'll make it out of this alive?"

"Yes," he said after giving it some thought. "Honestly, I think there is a pretty good chance. Kayaba may be a deranged psychopath but he's still a game developer and most developers wouldn't think of making an unwinnable game. It may be tough but I don't think it's impossible at least."

"You're right, good night Kazuto."

"Goodnight Shiori."

And with those words both fell to Orpheus' sweet song.

* * *

**Thanks everyone for the advice and thoughts in the reviews. I'm placing my other story on hold for awhile so I'm hoping to get a chapter out of this at least once a week. This chapter is a bit shorter but the next couple of scenes are really long ones so I'll save it for the next chapter. Anyways Ciao.**


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